November Buying Guide: Tech, Tock, Tech, Tock

What to Buy in NOVEMBER

The clock is ticking (or is that teching?) as we await the majority of 2015 Black Friday ads to surface. Retailers are in full motion with early sales announcements, ads and events this month. Some are just offering “Black Friday” deals all month long, including Amazon (Prime members get advance access to over 30,000 Lightning Deals this month) and Newegg (discounts tech items in Black November deals event), Walmart (November Rollbacks), while huge events like the Home Depot Black Friday Appliance Event and a Groupon 12 days of doorbusters get more focused on timing. Smart shoppers will take advantage of retailer incentives to get you to shop ahead of Thanksgiving weekend. Incentives like increased cardholder rewards, gift card bonuses with purchases and early access to doorbusters will all tempt our wallets this month, and stack nicely with cash back for additional savings.

The other main advantage to early shopping is that you’ll be getting the pick of the litter, meaning your chances of getting the color, size and style you want is better than waiting. And you can get some, or all, of your shopping out of the way. The downfall is that these early sales are very selective. The retailers hold all the cards for when and what they want to drop prices on vs. during the main Black Friday events when shoppers have the advantage to compare all the deals in all the Black Friday ads at the same time. In fact, the latest Black Friday shopping survey reflects this sentiment, as 4 in 10 say Black Friday offers the best deals and savings of the holiday, ranking well ahead of Cyber Monday, early November sales and December sales. This despite 42% that said they were unhappy with stores opening on Thanksgiving Day. Of course, even stores that close their doors will have deals and doorbusters available online.

Here are the best things to buy in November:

Consumer Electronics: This year the gamut of electronics products that will see significant price drops will be mystifying, to say the least. If you’re buying new, you’ll want to do some research, specifically for tablets (see our new tablet buying guide and kids tablet guide). Our Black Friday predictions forecast 50 tablet deals under $50, and some current tablet prices are in that range now, as are higher quality models like this Apple iPad Mini 3 $100 off at Best Buy. Other items like older smartphones are the hot pre-Black Friday item retailers want to clear out as the new iPhone 6S, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Google Nexus 6p and a host of others await doorbuster status. Another older item seeing exceptional sales right now is for older streaming devices, with the Chromecast I, last year’s Apple TV and Roku 3 all trending right now at 25% off or more.

Laptops: According to parents, only Back-to-School laptop deals are better than Black Friday laptop deals (see survey data and comparison of deals). However, with newer high-powered tablets available (iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4) and prices on more popular 2-in-1 hybrid laptops dropping leading into this holiday season, that thinking may all depend on what level of computing device you’re looking to buy. Our Black Friday predictions tell that shoppers should expect older low-feature laptops and notebooks under $100 and touchscreen models under $200. Add older MacBook Pro available for $700 and perhaps this Black Friday will be a good time to save hundreds of dollars upgrading this for you and your family. For example, this Lenovo 10″ Yoga 2 in 1 laptop is currently $100 cheaper than it was in August.

Video Game Deals: Expect Xbox One bundles for $250 (current low price nestled just under $300) come Black Friday, and PS4 deals bundles around $350, but don’t be shy about keeping your eyes open for select deals early (like this Get an Xbox One bundle, Get a game free deal announcement from BFAds). Black Friday will produce some of the biggest savings of the year on new video games like Fallout 4, Assasins Creed Syndicate, Star Wars Battlefront and Call of Duty: Black Ops III from our own Holiday Video Game Guide). Expect 25% off the latest games and 50% or more off earlier titles for Xbox One, PS4, Wii U and PC.

Toy Deals and Baby items: All the major retailer holiday toy books are out and the sales have begun. While these offer early shoppers some decent incentives to save some money early (best of note include: Toy R Us book of awesome, Walmart Toy Book and LEGO Holiday Catalog), they can’t compete with Black Friday Toy deals. Last year Kohl’s and Kmart offered dozens of brand’s toys for half price and Target offered 40% off all LEGO sets. The early sales just don’t fit this kind of mass discounting. Baby items are a different story as early November tends to be a prime time to find deals for these products, especially baby clothing as families get geared up to have the kids looking good for Thanksgiving dinner. Stores like Carters and Oshkosh Bgosh, along with dozens of others, will offer 50% off baby and kid apparel during Veteran’s Day sales and increased cash back at 100s of clothing stores, to boot!

About Brent Shelton

Brent Shelton is an online shopping expert and media relations specialist for FatWallet.com. Brent has 17 years of B2C marketing experience, analyzing online shopping behavior, retail trends and personal finance strategies, bringing awareness to the latest money-saving trends and tactics for journalists and consumers alike. Brent authors FatWallet's monthly "What to Buy " series which forecasts the best times of year to buy things, and why.